Question: This is more of a "what if" question, but I have to ask: theoretically, wouldn't the audience have been more impressed by a cloning machine than a disappear-reappear illusion? Couldn't Angier have vastly outsold Borden by showing the audience he can make a copy of himself (of course, pretending it's only an illusion, and only to kill the clone backstage at a later date)?
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Answer: There have been twin magicians in real life who use their secret to do this kind of trick. Audiences would tend to be more impressed by this just based on bewilderment of "how did he do it" because the magician could "reappear" faster than expected. However, once you put the twins side by side, even pretending it's a clone, it starts to break down the illusion because people would believe it's twins rather than a clone. In fact, when twins "reappear" too fast (say a hypothetical teleporting trick), people tend to suspect a twin or look-a-like rather than "magic".
Bishop73